I'll Support You
by Hannibal-Necromancer97
Summary: Frankly, there isn't enough love for our favorite cotton-candy crusader, Peri, so I've devised a more descriptive narrative for her supports. Enjoy! (Non-story spoilers for Conquest.)(Rated T for passing mentions and threats of violence. You'll see.)(Can't decide if this counts as drama. Let me know what you think.)
1. Concern for Another

Corrin was making his rounds as he usually did around the admittedly not-so-cleverly named Ft. Corrin - Beruka was supervising the crystal mine and Arthur was doing his best to not trample the cabbage patch flat - and was beginning on his way to his private quarters. He stopped when he heard something unexpected. "Waaaaah..."

He looked around, telling Silas to keep everyone going about their business as he did. He followed the weeping to the grove of dead trees (he couldn't fathom how or why Nohrian trees remained perpetually lifeless), where he found a head of blue-and-pink hair curled up under one of the trunks. "Peri?" he asked, mildly surprised to find her of all people. Her mascara was running when she looked up at him; he figured she'd been alone like this for some time now. "What's wrong? Why are you here crying by yourself?"

"Lord Corrin... I, uh..." She sniffed, trying to pull herself together, only to break down into another crying fit.

"It's hard to understand you while you're sobbing so hard." Corrin knelt down, speaking softly, "Can you tell me what happened?"

She avoided his gaze, which seemed odd. "Don't wanna..."

"Why not?"

"Because..." She curled up tighter, burying her face in her arms. "Because you'll say the same thing that they all did..."

She looked up suddenly, her expression and tone serious as though she hadn't just been a squalling mess. "I'm gonna kill 'em."

That was fast. "Um, what?" Corrin asked.

"All the ones who made me cry!" She quickly stood, taking some of the bark off the tree. "They're dead meat!"

"H-hey," he followed her, putting a hand on her shoulder to hopefully bring her under control, "we all get mad sometimes, but..."

"No joke," she growled, shrugging his hand away, "I'm really gonna slaughter them all!"

 _Whatever happened must have been serious,_ Corrin thought, interposing himself between her and the rest of the fort. _She's incoherent with rage. I'd better stay with her until she calms down..._

Peri's serious expression vanished as quickly as it had appeared. She covered her face with her hands, shoving all three into Corrin's shoulder as she broke down once more.


	2. Bloody Background

Some days later, Corrin decided to have breakfast in the mess hall. If he remembered correctly, it was Azura's turn to cook. The air outside the cafeteria smelled pleasant, like fresh bread and honey, which all but betrayed the surprise of what was in store. He figured everyone else had already eaten, because he found the inside almost completely vacant, save for Azura humming in the kitchen and another head of bright blue hair sobbing at a table in the corner. Next to her was a wrapped container of some kind.

"Peri," he began, trying not to upset her more than she was, "are you crying again?" She sniffled and nodded. Corrin took the seat across from her. "Won't you please tell me what's upsetting you so much?"

"...Why do you care?" she hiccupped.

"Why? Well, because we're allies."

"Allies..." Peri sat up, wiping her eyes with her napkin. "Lord Xander said it's important to have those." She looked at Corrin. "In that case, I guess it's safe to tell you."

Corrin smiled. "I'm honored that you'd confide in me."

Peri attempted to compose herself. "I'm sad because everyone looks at me like I'm weird."

"Really?" he asked, adopting a shocked expression, though he hoped she couldn't tell that he wasn't all that surprised. In truth, he probably thought many of the same things as the other troops.

"Yeah," she nodded. "But of course I'm different! I come from a really noble family."

Corrin was now exactly as surprised as his expression let on. "You're the daughter of nobility? No one mentioned that."

Peri smiled, many of her tears having disappeared. "Well, now you know!" She began to reminisce, describing her background with boisterous hand gestures. "At home, they called me 'Lady Peri,' and I had servants waiting on me hand and foot. They all loved me, even when I killed a few of them."

The adopted Nohrian prince couldn't tell if he was expecting that last part. "B-back up there," he insisted, a bead of sweat forming on his temple. "You killed your own servants?"

"Uh-huh," she said casually, as though that was perfectly normal. "I was bored, so I picked up my sword and THWACK!" The cavalier swung her hand through the air, pantomiming the attack. "I took a blood bath in the spray that came out. It's good for your skin, you know."

"E-eep..." Corrin was mortified. He didn't know which was worse: the fact that she'd done such a thing, or that she'd done it enough to find out that it was exfoliating. "You..." he attempted, not wanting to make her upset as she had been, "answer to Xander, yes?"

"I do! Me and Laslow are Lord Xander's top retainers." She grinned again. "Lord Xander's great because he gives me lots of chances to bathe."

 _What was he thinking?!_

"Did you say something?"

"Me? No!" he responded almost too quickly.

Peri looked down. "Lord Xander doesn't look at me weird, but everyone else sure does," she said sadly. "Every soldier at the castle kept their distance from me."

Corrin cleared his throat, happy to be past Peri's casual servant-slaying. "Do tell..."

"Some allies they were!" She pounded a fist on the table. "They looked at me funny, and now they have to die!"

Soldier-slaying, however... "Th-There's no punishment you go to first before killing them?" _Who have I let into my army?!_ he thought. _I can't let her go killing people willy-nilly...!_

Peri shook her head and stood. "Thanks for listening. I feel a lot better!" She reached down, picking up the gift-wrapped box and handing it to Corrin, much to his surprise. "Here, you can have this in return. I baked it myself!"

Finally. "A hidden talent, eh?" He inspected the box. It wasn't very big, maybe a foot-and-a-half all around, and was wrapped in a blue-and-pink polka-dot cloth. It smelled delicious; he honestly hadn't expected something like this from her. "Sure, I'll try it." He stood, allowing the one Hoshidan custom that stuck with him to show by giving her a slight bow. "Thank you very much, Peri."

She hopped a few times and clapped her hands. "You're very welcome!"

She gave him a gentle squeeze, skipping out the door. Corrin only had time to register the faintest red glow on her cheeks before noticing it on his own. With a smile, he tended to his gift.


	3. Another Gift

Corrin and Leo walked through the fort, discussing the former's decision some time ago to keep their new Wolfskin companion, Keaton. In the middle of his complaint about the sudden inflow of fleas and chewed-up stuffed bears, Leo stopped and pointed out a particularly chipper Peri handing out cookies to everyone she passed. "Oh! Lord Corrin!"

Corrin dismissed Leo as the cotton-candy cavalier approached. "No tears today, Peri?" he asked once his adoptive brother was out of earshot. "That's encouraging."

"I know!" she said excitedly. "People still look at me funny..." She held the platter of sweets in front of her. "But now they all want to try my snacks!"

"I'm glad for you."

Peri pulled him in conspiratorially. "I know what you did for me," she half-whispered. "You talked to them all and told them how good my snacks are."

"Guilty as charged," he admitted with a chuckle. "I really did enjoy it, though!"

"Thanks, Lord Corrin!"

"It probably helped that I omitted the part about you killing your servants..." Corrin muttered.

She gave him a look. "Sorry, I didn't catch that."

He cleared his throat. "Oh, er, I was just reviewing my agenda for the rest of the day."

For a while, the two of them walked and talked. Before long, Peri's platter was empty. "What a great day!" she cheered as she stowed the tray and turned for the mess hall. "I'm going to keep churning out treats for everybody. Especially for you, Lord Corrin!"

Corrin followed. "For me?"

"Yup!" She grinned. "I like being your ally. You were nice to me, so I'll be nice to you. Like when you listened to my problems."

"You're very welcome, Peri. I'm really pleased to see this outpouring of goodwill from you. I can see now why Xander chose you as his retainer."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. And I don't think it was only because of your bloodlust." He looked around, actually finding Xander speaking with a flustered Laslow some distance away. "Xander saw the kindness in you, and that's why he wanted you in his company. I want to make sure I recognize and reward kindness, just as he did."

"Thanks, Lord Corrin. I hope you'll be kind to me too. We'll be spending lots of time together!"

"I'm looking forward to it," he said with a smile. As Peri made her way to the mess hall, Corrin couldn't help but allow his heart to flutter. He breathed in deeply to bring himself back. Clearing his throat, he made his rounds, pondering how the next part would play out.


	4. Savor the Moment

Corrin today was not making his usual rounds around Ft. Corrin (gods, they needed a different name). Those he entrusted to Elise while he took care of a more... personal matter. With the mutterings going on around the square today, he had the feeling he knew where he needed to go and, sure enough, he found Peri on the way to the mess hall. "There you are, Lord Corrin!" She skipped over to him happily. "I was looking all over for you!"

"Ah, Peri," Corrin greeted. "I was looking for you too."

"You were? Huh." She shrugged. "Well, I'll go first anyway. Come see!"

She began to drag him by the arm to the kitchen. "See what...?"

Once inside, she released him. "Ta-daaaa!"

Corrin couldn't believe his eyes. Sometime between their meetings two days ago and now, Peri had concocted a colossal mountain of food, which she had then seen fit to pile onto one of the large tables in the cafeteria. "Gods!" he swore. "This is enough to feed an army!"

Peri nodded eagerly. "It's all for you, Lord Corrin!"

"Really?" He pondered the _extremely_ generous gift fondly. "Well... I am a bit peckish..."

She stepped over to the table. "Do you like red meat?"

"Of course."

"Whew," she breathed, "because I have plenty here! Go on - have some!"

"Maybe just a bite..." He took a forkful of venison and began.

It was, daresay, the best thing Corrin had ever tasted. Before it even reached his mouth, he could smell the smoke from the fire she'd cooked it over and the sauce she'd rubbed it with. Once inside it proceeded to melt, allowing every one of his taste buds to experience the heat and sauce and spices. It was salted just enough to keep it from coming completely apart, but not make it so dry as to ruin the flavor. The sauce he kept coming back to was sweet, tangy, and somewhat fruity - maybe plum?

Before he could place it, the meat and all its glory slinked down his throat. He barely even had to chew it. "What is this, Peri?" he asked, already going in for another bite. "I've never had anything like it!"

"Yay!" Peri cheered. "Lord Corrin likes it! I couldn't find any good ingredients, so I had my servants from home bring some!"

Corrin looked at her nervously. "...You didn't kill them afterward, right?"

She giggled. "Of course not, silly. They did a great job!"

He breathed a sigh of relief. Now that that was out of the way... "Peri... you know what I'd really like?" She gave him a curious look as he continued, "If I could eat your amazing food every day."

She looked taken aback. "You're serious? Lord Corrin, are you asking me to...?"

"Yes. That's why I was looking for you, in fact."

"Oh... I'm sorry, but..." Corrin feared he'd said something wrong when her eyes began welling with tears. "I can't be your personal chef!"

...He wasn't expecting that response. "My what? N-no, that's not what I meant. What I wanted to ask was, um... your hand in marriage."

The tears disappeared as her distressed expression changed to a surprised one. "M-marriage? To Lord Corrin?" She covered her cheeks and began to fidget around. "Someone, pinch me..."

"It's not a joke..." he confirmed, grabbing her shoulders, "or a dream. I genuinely feel that way about you."

Peri looked up at him. "I..." Her eyes began to water again. "I..."

When she began to weep again, Corrin was certain this time that he'd messed it up. "Wh-why are you crying?" he asked, distraught. "Are you that opposed to the idea?"

"No, no!" she assured. "Crying isn't always for sad times. Sometimes I cry when I'm happy!" She smiled weakly, pulling him in for a tight hug. "And right now I'm very, very happy. I love you too, Lord Corrin!"

Relieved, he returned the embrace, looking down at her. "Then you'll accept my proposal?"

"Yes...!"

"Wonderful!" he got out through Peri's sudden shower of kisses. "I'll make sure _our_ home -" gods, he was going to love saying that, "- is up to your aristocratic standards. I want you to live in the style you're accustomed to, with servants. I'll make sure to hire hardy folk, who won't die when you attack them."

She bounced jubilantly. "This is perfect! I'm so excited! Thank you so much, Lord Corrin! I promise to be a good wife!" She pulled him in for a long, passionate kiss.

Before they connected, Corrin could smell the rich spices she had cooked with just this morning; whether it was from her or the food just feet away, he wasn't sure and, frankly, didn't mind either way. Her lips were soft and sweet, but firm enough to not be overpowered by the sudden gesture. She wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss further. She gave a gentle moan as he placed one hand on her cheek, the other resting comfortably on her waist.

After about a minute of this heavenly experience, they parted. Both were out of breath, just standing as they raced to be the first to speak again. "I know nothing will ever come between us..." Peri said finally, resting her head on his chest. She nuzzled his neck as she added with a whisper, _"because I'll eviscerate anyone who tries..."_

Corrin almost jumped. He was expecting one of those statements this time, but he wasn't really prepared to handle it. Seemingly in spite of the sudden general threat, he let out a laugh. He was going to have to get used to those.

She departed to plan the ceremony, and Corrin went back for another bite of venison. As he ate, however, he smiled when he decided to correct his earlier judgment.

It was now the _second-_ most delicious thing he'd ever tasted.

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 **Happy Valentine's Day! Here's hoping you find that special person who will always support you through everything life throws at you.**

 **-Hannibal-Necromancer97**


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